Appel Gets Death Penalty Killer Wants No Interference With Sentence

Martin D. Appel was sentenced yesterday to die in the state's electric chair for the June 6 murders of three women in the robbery of a bank in East Allen Township.

Northampton County Judge Robert A. Freedberg, a slight tremor in his voice, pronounced sentence on Appel shortly after 3 p.m., after deliberating about an hour and a half.

The packed courtroom was silent, but on the faces of some spectators, many of them the families of those killed, there were small looks of quiet satisfaction.

Appel, 28, of Moore Township, is the first person to be sentenced to death in the county since 1932.

Earlier yesterday, after about 45 minutes of deliberation, the judge ruled that Appel had committedmurder in the first degree when he shot and killed Janice Confer, Hazel Evans and Jane Hartman, employees at the township branch of First National Bank of Bath on Route 329.

By state law, a person convicted of first-degree murder must be sentenced to either life in prison or death. The decision is based on a weighing of aggravating factors, shown by the prosecution, and mitigating factors, shown by the defense. If there is at least one aggravating circumstance and no mitigating circumstances, or if the aggravating factors outweigh mitigation, the death sentence must be imposed.

Appel, who said from the stand during the sentencing hearing, "I feel the only decision possible in this case would be the death penalty," stood and faced the judge as sentence was imposed, maintaining the impassive look his face has worn throughout the two months that have passed since the bloody assault.

The sentence is subject to automatic review by the state Supreme Court, according to Assistant District Attorneys Anthony Blasco and John F. Spirk Jr.

Freedberg gave Appel 10 days to file any post-sentencing motions and directed that Assistant Public Defenders Ellen Kraft and Lorenzo Crowe, who have served as standby counsel for Appel while he represented himself, continue to offer him any assistance he asks.

Appel will remain in Northampton County Prison for 10 days, pending any appeal. After that, the judge will set a date for formal sentencing.

However, Appel made it clear he wants no interference with his stated wish - to die in the electric chair. He told the judge, even before he passed sentence, "I will not appeal your decision. I trust the American Civil Liberties Union will not interfere and no other outside legal aid groups will attempt to appeal on my behalf."

Freedberg ruled that the prosecution had shown, beyond a reasonable doubt, two aggravating factors that state law says are grounds for imposition of the death penalty. The people he killed were potential witnesses against him for the robbery and murders, and the murders were committed in the course of another felony - the robbery.

In his closing argument for the death penalty, Blasco cited those two factors, saying that Appel executed those he killed as part of a plan to leave no witnesses to the robbery, which netted $2,286.43 for him and his accomplice, alleged to be Stanley Hertzog of Allentown.

About $16,000 in currency was left behind in an open cash drawer when Appel and his accomplice fled the bank.

Blasco cited two other factors, not listed by the judge, that he said were aggravating. He claimed that Appel "fired 14 times, spraying bullets as he went, some bullets hitting his initial victim, while others passed through walls and a window, putting others inside and outside the bank at grave risk." The statute also says that putting others at grave risk of death can be considered an aggravating factor.

Also, Blasco said, the killings contained elements of torture, another factor cited in the death penalty statute: "The excruciating pain of being first wounded and then their subjection to mental and physical torture as they lay there huddled under their desks and cabinets, screaming and waiting to be executed, unnecessarily, heinously and atrociously. . .

"One can only imagine the extreme anguish of their bodies as they lay there afraid, screaming, calling out or asking God to spare them."

And he repeated the words Thomas Marchetto, who was wounded in the assault, used to describe the scene: "The more shooting, the less screaming . . . until there was silence."

Appel, after a conference with his two attorneys, took the stand at the sentencing hearing and was sworn by court stenographer Jean Genova.

Calmly, he read from notes he carried to the stand with him. He said, "I'd like to state for the record that during this entire procedure, I've been aware - rational, sane, competent and alert.

"I've had plenty of opportunity to meet and consult with my attorneys, Miss Kraft and Mr. Crowe.

"I feel that by cooperating with the prosecutors and pleading guilty to all charges, I have done the honorable thing, and hope I would set a precedent for future defendants."

As mitigating factors on his behalf, he said he had no prior convictions for felonies, and, at the time of the robbery, was gainfully employed.